Jon Cousins

Nintendo Life

Jon Cousins·Nov 2, 2018

Critic70/100

Agreement—

Gal Metal is wild, weird and cool. If you can embrace the vivid and wacky art style of the comic panel segments and strive for percussive nirvana, there is a refreshing, deceptively deep and gratifying experience here. What stops it from being truly great are the minor inconsistencies of the motion controls, the completely bonkers alien invasion plot and the slow, text-heavy teen melodrama stories. Even so, the game mostly succeeds by subverting many stale genre tropes. It will take time to master your set list and the absence of more contemporary music is initially jarring, but this is a title that is rewarding as well as just really fun. For those who are about to rock, we salute you.

Nintendo Life

Jon Cousins·Jul 18, 2018

Critic50/100

Agreement—

If Space Invaders floats your intergalactic boat, Super Destronaut DX will definitely scratch your itch and the attempts to nudge and wink its way through your fond memories of neon lights and electro tunes are admirable. However, unless you're a high score hunter or a multiplier maniac who has had their fill of more interesting shooters or music-based games on the system like Just Shapes And Beats or Lumines Remastered, Super Destronaut DX will end up being a brief time killer, but not much else.

Nintendo Life

Jon Cousins·Jul 10, 2018

Critic50/100

Agreement—

Overwhelming for newcomers and probably too generic for genre aficionados, Touhou Gensou Wanderer Reloaded is difficult to recommend to all but die-hard series fans. The beautiful hand-drawn presentation and high production values are hindered severely by a contrived and intrusive interface, unimportant dialogue with very little character development and derivative mechanics. It certainly looks the part, but there are more fun and interesting adventure roguelikes such as Crypt Of The Necrodancer on the eShop right now.

Nintendo Life

Jon Cousins·Jul 10, 2018

Critic80/100

Agreement—

Despite its unyielding nature and curiously juxtaposing approach to its characters, Bomber Crew is a sometimes thrilling and constantly rewarding title. Favouring roguelite progression, strategy and resource management over frantic arcade-style combat, if you can get past the simple, cute visuals and steep learning curve you'll find a rich, intense and satisfying experience here.

Nintendo Life

Jon Cousins·Jul 4, 2018

Critic70/100

Agreement—

A sumptuous feast in multiplayer, but a bit bland and monotonous when going solo, Mushroom Wars 2 is nonetheless an accessible and deep and enjoyable real-time strategy experience. There is plenty to dig into, especially if you enter the online competitive arena. Although the game does show it's mobile roots on occasion as the single-player campaign is ironically 'by the numbers', Mushroom Wars 2 is definitely a dish best served cold, and with a group of fun guys or gals.

Nintendo Life

Jon Cousins·Jun 13, 2018

Critic80/100

Agreement—

Charming, addictive but sometimes ruthlessly unforgiving, PixelJunk Monsters 2 has made the transition into 3D almost unscathed. While there is a sense of ‘if it isn't broken, don't fix it' in some instances, it's still a gorgeous, lovingly-crafted and action-packed tower defence game that despite a few annoyances, will delight, entertain and challenge in equal measure.

Nintendo Life

Jon Cousins·Jun 12, 2018

Critic80/100

Agreement—

Despite a couple of blemishes, The FRAMED Collection is a clever and stylish addition to the Switch library. Inevitably, it's much smoother to play with touch controls, but it's worth seeing the bold characters and more vibrant set pieces play out on a big TV. A couple of iffy puzzles and a fairly short run time for both games shouldn't put you off too much, as there are some excellent ideas here and a refreshingly cool overall experience. If you've never played them before and you like puzzle games with a dash of charisma, you should definitely check them out. Hideo Kojima can't be wrong, right?

Nintendo Life

Jon Cousins·May 9, 2018

Critic70/100

Agreement—

Goetia is a flawed yet engrossing point-and-click-style adventure for those looking for a challenge as well as an interesting story. Aside from the lack of a hint system resulting in the odd infuriatingly obtuse puzzle, it's a bleak, beautiful experience. It's certainly slow and more text-heavy compared to other titles in the genre on Nintendo Switch, but it's well-crafted and worth a look.

Nintendo Life

Jon Cousins·Apr 25, 2018

Critic60/100

Agreement—

Zotrix: Solar Division looks basic, even archaic, compared to recent offerings, but there's something oddly compelling about watching the events unfold - especially if you get the balance of difficulty, speed and resource management tuned to your liking.

Nintendo Life

Jon Cousins·Apr 18, 2018

Critic80/100

Agreement—

Sally's Law is an example of an already great game being improved and adapted to fit its new home. The adorable characters, heartfelt story and progressive mechanic of relying on each other is both a technical and thematic success. It is a short game, and once you've played through to get all the photos there's just the co-op mode to go back for, but Sally's Law is as much of a cherished, emotional solo experience as it is one you'll want to share.

Nintendo Life

Jon Cousins·Mar 9, 2018

Critic80/100

Agreement—

Make no mistake about it - Flinthook is a really well crafted, charming and fun experience. To a certain extent, however, it feels impeded by the constraints of its genre. It is one of tightest action platformers and addictive rogue likes around, but due to the randomly generated levels, you will encounter the odd frustrating spike in difficulty or structurally very similar areas in close proximity. These complaints are reduced to niggles though due to its charm, personality and action packed gameplay. This trek across the galaxy is sometimes a tough and repetitive one, but it's also incredibly enjoyable.

Nintendo Life

Jon Cousins·Mar 5, 2018

Critic60/100

Agreement—

A competent and authentic 8-bit experience, A Hole New World will be enjoyed by many a retro fan out there, but the some of its mechanical elements are faithful almost to its detriment. Travelling between the dual worlds is cool, but utilised without much ambition or variety. While certainly not a bad game, the methods employed to enforce difficulty feel cheap and frustrating, rather than motivating or rewarding. A few of the bosses are visually impressive, but there isn't much here structurally or gameplay wise that particularly stand out . If you're looking for another title with more nostalgia and 'traditional' challenge rather than sadistic, fast-paced, twitch-based platformers, then A Hole New World is an adequate game that will bring back many memories of the 8-bit era, for better or worse.

Nintendo Life

Jon Cousins·Feb 15, 2018

Critic60/100

Agreement—

Frederic: Evil Strikes Back is a pretty 'by the numbers' sequel, and despite the (still quite low) track list being superior to the first, the characters, dialogue and presentation niggles still remain. There's plenty of personality to the tracks, and seeing Chopin go up against stadium rockers is strange yet amusing, but the satire and parodies from the first game miss the mark more often than not this time round. The visuals are still bold, and you'll have an enjoyable experience if you can overcome its shortcomings. While Deemo and even VOEZ are still the best of the genre on Nintendo Switch, Frederick: Evil Strikes Back's mix of interesting reinterpretations of classical compositions and sometimes charming art style are still worth a go.

Nintendo Life

Jon Cousins·Jan 26, 2018

Critic100/100

Agreement—

Celeste is an exemplary amalgamation of style, mechanics and character. A devilishly brilliant action platformer with enough skill required to excite genre purists and the speed running community, while at the same time featuring a breakdown of gameplay elements to customize and cater for all audiences. While the game mechanically is great, if familiar, the art style and narrative are truly special, showing both a visual and emotional range and depth that will resonate and inspire. Celeste is the absolute peak of personal exploration and discovery on Nintendo Switch.

Nintendo Life

Jon Cousins·Jan 22, 2018

Critic60/100

Agreement—

While Baseball Riot has a simple, quirky, challenging and meaty campaign, there is a real sense of deja vu. The art style and core mechanics are virtually the same as its prequel, and although it is aesthetically vivid and satisfying to beat a difficult stage or line up a perfect shot to obliterate a row of nasty foes, the grind you go through to beat it might deplete that addictive nature that puzzle games such as this strive for. All in all, the game ends up being a solid, but often frustrating and wholly unoriginal experience.